Chapter 72 - Kingdom 02.
This chapter is exclusively about the kingdom, hierarchy, system, internal affairs, statistics, population, and resources.
[Chapter Size: 2800 Words.]
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Jon Arctic POV
Arctican Realm, lands beyond the wall, 295 AC. a week after.
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Jon approached a stream quietly, where a woman was seated, dipping her feet in the water while contemplating the nature of the place. She seemed thoughtful as he approached, sitting down beside her. She turned to him with a smile.
"Jon..." She murmured.
"How are you, Seryna?" He asked, and his gaze went to her belly.
"I'm fine, just contemplating the first rays of the morning..." She said calmly and moved Jon's hand to her belly. "Do you feel it, Jon? Our son is growing inside me." She spoke with a certain emotion.
"Are you asking me that?" Jon smiled, sealing their lips with a kiss.
"What do they call you again? Druid..." She said, rolling her eyes. But then she smiled again. "So, Mr. Druid. Our first child is a boy, isn't he?" She looked at him expectantly.
"You're right, how do you know?" Jon could feel the life inside Seryna growing every day.
"Don't doubt a mother's intuition." She laughed at the comment.
Jon just gave a small smile, still looking at her while keeping his hand on her belly. "Do you want to make the journey?" He asked.
"I will make it, don't worry about me, I can handle it." She said with determination, and Jon nodded.
He spent some time with his wife, talking about the child. Jon seemed less excited than Seryna, who spoke joyfully about the child, but that did not make him feel any less love for the child. He just had a more serious demeanor after managing a kingdom and its upbringing for 5 years, almost 6 years.
After a while, duty called him with a meeting that the council wanted to have in the senate. He bid farewell to Seryna with a kiss on her lips and another on her belly, before asking Wind, with two babies, theirs, who was passing by to keep Seryna company.
Jon mounted Eragon, who descended from the sky next to the sacred grove, and flew to the north side of the city, landing at a dragon landing site, like the Dragonpit in King's Landing, but in Arctica there were at least 8 of them, some under construction, not to imprison dragons like the Targaryens did, but as a place for Eragon to land and rest when he could, maybe if he could bring more dragons into the world, Arctica could have a sky with more than one dragon, making the kingdom even more magical.
He got off Eragon while being greeted by some people who admired the place and went down to ride his wolf to the senate. He entered, and almost everyone was already present. The place was quite large, but they occupied a small area, as there were few people at that moment, besides the council, being composed of Jon, as King, Aemon, as the educational minister of the kingdom, Brynden, as the civil minister, Thor as the minister of construction, Ducken, minister of war.
There were other ministers that Jon had appointed over the years, which are:
Minister of Finance and Treasury, Gavron: He was an elder of a tribe of the Free Folk before arriving in Arctica with his group. In charge of the kingdom's finances, Jon had taught him about managing the wealth of the kingdom over these years after seeing potential and honesty in him. The 50-year-old man learned about the value of money and how important it is for Arctica in relation to the outside world, since the people of Arctica still do not care much for gold.
Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Haran: A giant. Jon had seen the young teenager's interest in the subject and decided to teach him. With his talent and ideas, Jon decided to assign him to the position. He became in charge of managing the agricultural lands, forests, and natural resources of the kingdom, ensuring sustainability and food security. Haran became a respected farmer with a deep knowledge of natural cycles and agriculture learned from Jon, combined with administrative and financial knowledge with mathematics, he was prospering quite a bit in his area in the next year.
Minister of Magic and Arcane Affairs such as Wargs and other matters, Seraphine: She was a child of the forest, responsible for regulating the use of magic within the kingdom, training new wargs, and dealing with magical threats like the white walkers. Seraphine was not limited to just learning magic from the North; Jon explained how magic worked in various places around the world, some quite intriguing, others quite repulsive.
Minister of Justice and Law, Kiera: A tough woman, but responsible for maintaining order and justice in the kingdom, overseeing courts, the guard within the kingdom, and the enforcement of laws. Kiera could be a former spear-wife who became a respected judge, with a strong sense of justice and equity after Jon saw her intelligence for this area.
There was a person responsible for the kingdom's religion, which was Leaf herself. However, Jon separated the kingdom's administrative part from the faith, even though they continued to be intertwined, and they even prayed before starting any discussion about the kingdom, seeking divine guidance for better decisions. Jon always wanted two fundamental concepts in Arctica: faith in their gods and freedom and prosperity with the kingdom. Combined, they would build the strength of Arctica.
Jon turned his attention to two other people, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Darius, and Minister of Trade, Junly.
With Arctica now opening its borders, Darius would be in charge of diplomacy with other kingdoms, organizations, and cities from the continents, negotiating treaties, and representing the image of this kingdom, which Jon made clear would not only be for maintaining peace since he would bring war when needed. Darius might be an inexperienced diplomat, but Jon trusted he would learn and become a suitable man for the position.
Junly was responsible for trade, and he would accompany him on the next journey as would Darius. He was a middle-aged man whom Jon saw great potential as an entrepreneur. He would be responsible for managing a plot called the Arctican trading company, which would be a group with several people responsible for the kingdom's trade outside of it. There was also the matter of creating a spy network outside the kingdom. He wanted to do this with his merchant ships since this was the fastest way to acquire information from south of the Wall, but Jon did not know if Junly could handle the kingdom's espionage, or he would have to make a new minister.
Jon's role as king of Arctica was to manage this group. He did not know if he should create a position like Hand of the King because he did not want to concentrate so much power of the kingdom in one person, so his role was just to see how these 10 people were doing their job correctly, and the people also had a voice in their decisions in the senate, where 10 members from each race were chosen by the people themselves in a vote to review the laws, and any bad decision could be overturned by them in the senate.
Jon created the Arctican kingdom differently from anything in the world, hoping it would bring prosperity for all ages that this place would enter and that it would be self-governing without intervention from future kings, just taking care that the kingdom continues to prosper.
The meeting began with 51 people, one king, 10 ministers, and 40 representatives from all races. The debate started with the new plans.
"As you know," Jon began, his voice echoing through the giant oval hall, "We are starting a new phase, and in the next moon, I will go out to visit some parts of the world," Jon declared.
"I still think it's bad for our king to go out on his own. I'm still against it," a dwarf complained.
"I understand your concern, but I must represent this kingdom at first, besides, I have knowledge, but I need to teach others who will do this after me," Jon spoke.
"Can Arctica remain safe without your presence?" a woman known from the Free Folk who represented them asked.
"Yes, we have security measures for any attack. The wall is complete in part; we have no news of workers being attacked in the light. We are partially safe, and the Arctican forces are ready for any threat with the command of Brynden, Wallyk, and Thor. Do not underestimate the Arctican forces, and I would be away for 1 year with my first journey, returning as soon as I have settled with the kingdoms south of the Wall," Jon declared.
The meeting continued with more discussions on the subject, but Jon was firm in his decisions, and everyone agreed. Other matters were discussed about how Arctica would be managed with the king away. He left everything as adequate as possible. He had weapons, armies, and resources; hardly they would be conquered by any force in the world here. He was satisfied.
Jon finished the meeting in the senate and accompanied Aemon to the university on Eragon. "I hope to take a new step for the education of the people with this journey..." Jon commented as they walked through the richly decorated place.
"I'm sure you'll do your best and surprise us as you always do," Aemon said with pride.
"I hope so, uncle. Anyway, I'll bring back many books, and I hope that with them, we can prosper in education," he said.
"I understand your goal, Jon. But we still have too few teachers," Aemon pointed out. Even though Arctica had a population of 200,000 in these 3 years, they hadn't managed to cover even 2% of that with literate individuals with all the teachers.
"I know, but I have a plan for that. My journey might be successful in this regard," Jon had a few things in mind for the trip.
He left Aemon and returned to the grand weirwood. He had to prepare for the commercial journey he planned for the next moon, now with the canal completed that stretched to the sea, Jon would make his first journey along with his realms.
Entering a kind of solar with books and some sheets on a table, Jon went over to them. He picked up and examined the information contained on them. The kingdom had developed like never before in the last 2 years, with the construction of the canal drawing much attention from people outside the territory. There had been attacks, but the dwarves showed they were powerful enough to deal with most of the Free Folk who tried to attack the short men. When ready, the canal also served as a road for the kingdom that until then was hidden, since this place was not much visited and was surrounded by icy mountains.
The Free Folk who dared to follow the river into the region were confronted with a magical land, without the snow of the north, seeing shades of green they didn't know existed. Those who encountered the city and the wall under construction practically begged to stay, seeing it as a way to shelter from the cold, hunger, and death that haunted them outside of Arctica. Jon would never deny these people, after all, this was the desire of his gods. And even though there were people who seemed not to respect the Arctican laws, they were treated according to their crimes; some were killed, others expelled. But this was a temporary measure. Jon wanted to make a prison, as his plans were to extend Arctica's domain over all the lands beyond the wall, so there would be no way to expel them again from their own lands.
Two years ago, he allocated all resources to build the wall. Giants for logistics, carrying the massive stones taken from the mountains they dismantled, and work to assist the dwarves, where more strength was required, humans were designated for creating cement and molds, while the main builders, the dwarves did the work and finishing itself. The wall was completely filled, thanks to the effort of thousands of people and races over these 2 years, with one thousand kilometers in length and 10 meters in height, Arctica no longer had to worry about surprise attacks. But it was still not ready; it needed to be fortified to 25 meters, which would be completed in the coming years.
Now he would also focus on the expansion of the kingdom, reallocating dwarves and other races to naval construction. He noticed there had been a drop in the production of crafts and textiles in the kingdom, even though the population was increasing with the arrival of new people and even giants following the canal. But this did not disappoint him, as he well knew what was happening with the explosion of children filling the kingdom.
The women took care of these jobs, but due to the number of children being born, they ended up taking care of their children. The Free Folk always had difficulty having children, many dying before the age of 2, but now, without the cold and hunger to haunt them and take the lives of the babies, children began to be born every year. There were many couples in Arctica with 7 or 8 children since he founded the kingdom, and the expectation was to further increase the population. The current birth rate was 4.2 children per human woman, 2 per dwarf, 1.5 per giant, and 10 per child of the forest.
Looking at the report on that paper, the Arctican population and resources were currently as follows:
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Dwarves: 24,000 (10,000 children)
Humans: 168,500 (80,000 children)
Giants: 6,900 (2,000 children)
Children of the Forest: 550 (500 children)
Direwolves: 1,000
Normal Wolves: 4,500
Bears: 1,400
Shadow Cats: 1,300
Mammoths: 500
Birds: 10,000
Horses: 600
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Military power, army currently comprised of:
Dwarves: 8,000
Humans: 30,000 (1,500 Wargs, all have birds and are mounted on shadow cats or bears)
Giants: 3,000
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Kingdom's resources/military/commercial:
Ships: 200
Dragon glass arrows: 5 million.
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Jon sighed with satisfaction at the information there, but not everything was summarized there. The Arctican king had his own wealth and strength, and Arctica was even richer than any other noble house beyond the borders of this place, since Jon had intensified many workers in gold mining in recent years. He had his personal force. Jon was a warg of 600 direwolves, 2,000 normal wolves, 700 bears, 600 shadow cats, 10 mammoths he had received from the giants, and more than a thousand birds to be his eyes in the kingdom. Jon was an army of one, his powers terrifying to anyone who knew of them, as this young teenager had a strength that no one should have in the mortal world, though he only made his kingdom prosper and had never been involved in a war before.
"What are you doing..." A new voice appeared in the place, and Jon looked up to see a beautiful woman approaching him with a look of love.
"Ygritte, how are you?" he asked, a bit concerned.
"The nausea is horrible, I admit. But I'll survive it," she said, approaching and sitting on Jon's lap with a calm pace while looking at the papers.
"You live here now..." She complained a bit.
"I'm the king of this place; I must prioritize its development. The Wargs can always bring me more precise information on the people count, which is very useful."
"It would be very bad for my husband to be counting each person living in these lands... He wouldn't have time for me, would he?" Ygritte said, giving Jon a kiss and smiling.
"Very unlikely, your husband would always find time for his wives," Jon laughed at the joke.
"That's what I like about him," she said, giving him another kiss while in his lap.
Jon smiled at her and looked at her belly. "How are you? You know you don't have to go on this journey..." Jon murmured.
"And miss all the adventure, never leaving the North, but I promise I'll return if I get sick... I must think of our daughter," she commented, and Jon nodded. Ygritte was also pregnant.
"Daughter? You and Seryna are quite assertive," Jon laughed, seeing that Ygritte had correctly guessed the sex of her child, and she had said something similar to Seryna.
"Well... I'm done here; it's time for me to switch from being a king to being a husband, what do you think?" Jon gave a small smile and spoke in a seductive tone.
"I would love that..." She commented, looking into his green eyes.
Jon carried Ygritte to the bedroom, and Seryna also seemed to be waiting for her husband and sister-wife, with Jon spending the rest of the day with them.
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